An Irish man shot dead near his adopted home in the US was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”, officials believe.
The victim, Ciarán Ó Conghaile from Mor village on Inis Meain, one of the Aran Islands off the Co Galway coast, was believed to have been shot in the chest in Boston early yesterday morning.
It is the second tragedy to hit his family in recent years.
It is understood he was working in the construction industry in the US for the past 12 years and was yards from his apartment home on Nahant Avenue, near Adams Corner in the suburb of Dorchester, when he was shot at about 1am.
The 36-year-old was pronounced dead by emergency services who were called to the scene.
Government sources said investigators in the US believe Mr O Conghaile was not intentionally killed but may have been caught up in a botched robbery.
“They don’t think he was a target,” said one source.
“It looks like it was a tragic case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Boston police are investigating whether he had his wallet stolen as he walked home from an Irish festival.
Mr Ó Conghaile was one of the many undocumented Irish working in America without legal status.
He was unable to visit his family in the Aran Islands for more than a decade for fear of being unable to return to Boston.
His older brother Michael Dara Ó Conghaile was swept into the sea by a freak wave as he stood chatting to his sister on the island pier in 2000.
Islanders spent a year-and-a-half searching for his remains, which were eventually identified by DNA testing.
The last time Mr Ó Conghaile returned to his native Inis Meain was for his brother’s funeral.
The security clampdown after the September 11th 2001 attacks on New York and Washington DC prevented him from coming home again.
One of his two sisters is understood to be living in Boston.
Local reports said Mr O Conghaile’s construction colleagues in Boston called by his apartment to pick him up for work yesterday morning as usual but drove on after there was no answer at the door.
Friend and Boston Globe columnist Kevin Cullen said Mr Ó Conghaile had been at the Irish Heritage Festival taking place in the neighbourhood over the weekend.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was providing consular assistance to the family.
PA